Seven Stepping Stones to a Flipped Classroom

Seven Stepping Stones to a Flipped Classroom

The “flipped classroom” is not the newest fad that will save education.  It will not replace textbooks.  It certainly will not replace teachers.  And it definitely will not make every student all of a sudden love school and turn in every assignment.

However, with a little extra work up front, a little more imagination and an openness to change the parameters of the traditional classroom, the flipped classroom could create opportunities to provide more content, create extra time in your classroom, develop opportunities to interact with students and empower them to take charge of their own learning.

Oh there will be push back.  Students will complain, parents will wonder, colleagues will question and administrators may balk.  Student complaints will include things like, “your not teaching us,” “I used to get my homework done while you lectured,” ‘my dog ate my hard drive,” and “I don’t get it.”  Parents will wonder, “why is there no homework,” “what do you do in class all day,”” why is my child on the computer all the time,” and “why are you not teaching my child?” Colleagues will ask, “Why, What and How?” And Administrators will balk at, “What is this going to cost?” and “How are you going to meet the standards?”

To get a handle on all of this and make the transition easier, there are basic step that will make the process move a little smoother and provide opportunities to get all of the publics on board. 

  

The Seven Stepping Stones for implementation of the flipped classroom include:

1.     Brainstorm

2.    Create

3.   Design

4.   Prepare

5.    Set Outcomes

6.    Build a Library

7.    Create a Portal

Brainstorm

The first thing to do is decide how you want to transition into the world of flipped learning. Do you want to spend the summer creating an entire semester of content and go “whole hog”?  Are there specific lessons or content areas that make sense for your subject matter? Do you want to have a flipped day?  Monday will be flipped homework and Tuesday will be the Flipped Classroom day.  What content can you create or find easily?  Is there a special unit or class project that flipping might enhance? Remember not all lessons can nor should be flipped.  The teacher facilitator must do what is best for all students and must maintain their own sanity.

  

Create

Create the “flipped” homework assignment.  Determine what the students will watch.  What is the content that the students will need?  Do you need to make your own video?  Is there something already available on line or from your textbook?  What media can or should be used?  Is this a lesson or a unit?  What will the students do?  And, how will you create accountability?

Design

Design the classroom follow-up activity.  How will the classroom become student centered?  Will the activity be a project?  Will inquiry be the focus?  What choices will the students have in demonstrating their knowledge?  How will the learning be assessed? How will the students take ownership of the content knowledge they have been exposed to?

  

Prepare

Get students prepared for the “flipped experience”.  Outline expectations and

parameters.  Encourage the students to take charge of their learning.  Demonstrate 

how to use the media.  Explain all the options and choices available. Be proactive in 

assisting students who have special needs or lack access to the technology.  Offer 

options and possible solutions for all students to feel they can be successful.

Set Outcomes

Determine expected outcomes and processes for assessing the learning.  Prepare for success but be ready to support failure and develop areas for improvement.  Provide opportunities for growth and varieties of methods to demonstrate learning and mastery of the content standards.

  

Build a Library

Develop a library of resources that can and will engage all students. Provide choices 

in what the students can watch.  Evaluate media for the effectiveness of delivery of 

the content, engagement for the students, presentation of the content standards and 

development of formative assessment. Encourage students to use other resources to 

further their understanding of the content. Allow students freedom to take care of 

their own learning.

Create a Portal

Determine how to deliver the content.  Does your school offer a platform for the organization of the content library?  Do you need to develop your own portal?  Is there something already available that can be adopted to fit the needs of your students and your classroom?  Can you use a platform like Moodle, Blackboard, Ted Ed, Vimeo or YouTube to put your content in a format that is user friendly for both you and your students?

Now it is time to start “Flipping”!!!

Creating Accountability in the Flipped Classroom

Creating Accountability in the Flipped Classroom

How do I make the students watch the videos?

The flipped learning model is not a silver bullet and there will still be students who do not do the homework.  There is no magic elixir or special potion that can be used to solve this problem.  There will be problems with the internet.   Mom and Dad will be using the computer.   Viruses will attack.  And of course dogs will eat hard drives. Like anything else when it comes to education it all comes down to who will be held accountable and how will that be accomplished.

The best way to approach accountability in the classroom; is to create a student centered environment where the students have both control and ownership of their learning.  Develop an attitude that learning is a process to be valued not for the grade achieved but for the knowledge gained.  Impress upon students that learning is the one skill that is guaranteed to be part of their life for the rest of their life.

BER Flipped Classroom presenter Corey Papastathis uses the concept of CANT to develop this accountability with his students.   

C - Choice  (videos and assessment)

A - Accountability

N - No Excuses

T - Three Before Me

C – Choice

Provide choices for the students to meet their responsibilities for learning.  Options in the videos they watch, the articles they read or the media used to acquire knowledge.  Provide a bank of options for students to utilize and encourage them to explore other options on their own. 

Provide choices in the methods used to demonstrate their understanding of the content and ways the standards have been achieved.  Assessment opportunities should be both formative and summative and demand that students be capable of dealing with higher order thinking.

In providing students with choices, they can take ownership of the process and mean by which they learn.

A – Accountability

Educators must hold students accountable for the information and content delivered outside of class.  Students must produce something that demonstrates their completion of the task.  The danger is when educators fall back on lower order questioning students can simply borrow answers from their peers without actually completing the expected learning process.

Examples could include: developing questions for the next class review of the material, creating or responding to a blog post on the content, presenting further research on the topic, developing a lesson for the class, teaching a peer, what they learned.

Gary Philips of the National School Improvement Project, found in his research on what the brain remembers thirty days after what we have been taught.  His findings demonstrated that we remember 92% of what we have taught someone else.  Peer to peer teaching is the most effective method of solidifying understanding and synthesizing material in long-term memory.

Louis Mangione – “Dynamic Teaching in the Block Schedule”

N – No Excuses

To create an environment of accountability there must be no exceptions to the expectations. Each student must be held accountable. There must be an understanding that each student has a responsibility to themselves and to their classmates to be prepared with the content knowledge necessary for the entire class to succeed.  That is coming unprepared students are not only cheating themselves but they cheat their lab partners and the entire class by not being able to participate fully in the class.

However, educators must provide students with ample opportunities and choice to be successful.  Students must have a variety of media and other sources available to attain the content knowledge.  Options must be available that serve each students needs, whether that be offering time outside of class to view videos before or after school, in the library.  Are videos burned to DVD’s for students to watch through DVD players or zip drives made available for students without internet connections at home.

The No Excuses mantra does not only extend to the students but also to the educator as a teacher facilitator. 

T – Three Before Me

Students must take charge of their own learning by developing the skills necessary to problem solve and move forward when a rough patch comes along.  Therefore the rule must be check three resources for possible solutions before asking the teacher.  Students can ask each other, read the text, check their notes, review the media, watch an additional video etc… etc….  Students must build an attitude of self-advocacy, and responsibility for their learning. 

The teacher facilitator must in turn take an authentic role as the “guide on the side”.  Do not provide the easy out for the student.  It may be easier to just move them along, but this is a disservice to the process of learning.  It cripples the student as they try to take of their own the process of learning. 

Pros and Cons of the Flipped Classroom

The Pros and Cons of the Flipped Classroom

Possible benefits of the flipped classroom:

•    Students can take ownership of their learning.

•    Teachers can create or select educationally entertaining videos to capture student attention, instead of having students absorb through textbooks and homework problems.

•    The classroom becomes a student centered learning environment, rather than teacher directed a content driven.

•    Students receive instant feedback in class as they are problem solving.

•   Students are not as frustrated because they can ask questions immediately and work through confusion.

•   Teachers can revisit concepts that trip-up students and reform the pace of the lesson plan based on feedback.

•   Students do not have to rely on parents, tutors or potentially inaccurate internet sources to work through tough problems.

•   Teachers can provide options to students with different learning styles and offer more one-on-one time.

•   Students who are absent or miss class due to school activities have access to the content delivery outside of the classroom.

•   Administrators, colleagues and parents have access to the content being delivered in your classroom.

•   More time to allow for student involvement in Project Based Learning, Inquiry Based Learning, Gamification and Simulations.

•   Development of Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaborative skill sets through increased interaction between students and teachers in the classroom.  

Possible draw-backs of the flipped classroom

•    Not all students have access to at-home technology.

•    Not all teachers are tech savvy enough to master the flipped classroom model, and schools may need to adopt additional hiring criteria for new teachers.

•    The method relies on students watching the videos and potentially fails if they do not.

•    Teachers may be at a loss as what to do with in-class time.  Teachers are more reliant on student feedback and questions to drive daily interaction.

•      With the emphasis on out of class lessons, some ask why we need teachers, and insist the flipped classroom too closely resembles a hands-off online learning environment.

•    Educators need time to develop online content and create a student centered learning environment, through Inquiry and Project Based Learning methods.